They say yes to “Lawtze” – but leaving the day job isn’t a spur of the moment decision, instead it’s a courageous adventure into the unknown

On 25^th April 2015, encountering the immense magnitude-7.8 earthquake, Pink Lee began a fund-raising project and established the non-profit organization “Light On”.

An Chinese article done by JobsDB.com

(Translated by Hing Sing Yuen)

There’s a contemporary Chinese phrase ‘lawtze’(literally “resign nakedly”) meaning to leave your job with no replacement in mind. Pink Lee is one of them: here’s her story.

You might think people who “lawtze” do so because of their unreasonably demanding bosses, the worsening imbalance between workload and salary, or the need to work with helplessly idiotic colleagues. “I want to adventure outside Hong Kong before I am 30 (which is the age limit of apply for the working holiday visa)…” Everyone has their own reasons to “lawtze”, and quite a lot of people do so in order to realize their dreams. Pink Lee is one of them.

First generation guru of naked resignation – I am going to embrace the world!

Ten years ago, before “lawtze” entered Chinese slang, although she had respectable career as a finance journalist, Pink Lee followed an intense calling in her heart and traveled alone to Tibet as a backpacker. “That trip changed my life completely, and is still my most important life-changing decision.” she said.

Despite being poor, the Tibetans Pink met were happy; on the other hand, having plenty of resources, Hongkongers always seemed to have frowning faces. The most inspiring moment for her was when a backpacker told her, “if you grasp your fist tight, you only own the tiny bit in your hand. But if you release your fist, you own the whole world.”

She remarked, “those words opened my eyes in an instant. At that moment, I decided that when I got back to Hong Kong, I would save as much as I could and then ‘lawtze’ to travel around the globe and embrace the world.”

During her work as a finance journalist, Pink traveled alone to Tibet, encountered friendly locals, and learned life-changing lessons from other backpackers.

How many “workless” ten years are there in one’s life?

Having saved money for two years and handed in her resignation letter, Pink set off on her journey. “My former dream was the same as every regular Hongkonger, which was a promising career and wealth. So, when I resigned, my original plan was to come back and work in Hong Kong after roaming around the world like a carefree bird for a year.” Pink said.

Surprisingly, the money she saved was enough for her to travel around the globe for 2 years and 3 months, and even enough to pay for her expenses during her short-term stay after coming back to Hong Kong. “My experience during these two years utterly transformed my life. My craving to become a famous journalist had turned into a kind of vanity for me. Now I just wanted to go with the flow, and find happiness in my heart.” Pink said.

Having done “lawtze”, Pink realized her first dream – to travel to South America and learn Spanish. Mastering Spanish, she gained unique experience beyond what common backpackers could have, such as chatting with the Cuban old man in this photo.

That gap year unexpectedly shaped her into a Buddhist-ish girl, because of one stop on her journey – India. Encountering spiritual practices such as yoga, meditation, she realized that the most important thing was the present moment, and there was no need to fear the future or to keep harking back to the past.

Since coming back to Hong Kong, she has only been working as a freelancer (translator, writer, yoga and meditation instructor). Time flies, and it has been ten years.

“I’d never imagined that I could live without going to work for ten years. In fact, if you’re too anxious about money and derive your sense of security from it, you’ll miss a variety of opportunities. Reflecting on her ten-year experience as a freelancer, Pink concluded, “happiness doesn’t come from the external world but resides in your heart.”

Through her spiritual practice, Pink switched her outward attention to her internal world, and discovered happiness and love, which she had always been longing for.

Once again on the path of “lawtze”

Before Pink became a “slashie[1]”, her ex-boss almost persuaded her to go back as a finance journalist. “Although I could earn an even better wage than before, I didn’t feel I belonged to that world. The job didn’t mean anything to me any longer.” After a mere three months of work, she “lawtze”  again.

“The common idea is that people who “lawtze” are courageous people who can leave their comfort zones. But the fact is, we’re just following our instincts; We don’t care about negative opinions from people around us. If you receive too many criticisms or negative opinions, you’ll always stay in your snail shell, not knowing the greatness of the external world.” Pink chuckled, “I “lawtze” not because of courage but ‘recklessness’.”

Starting as a volunteer English tutor for the children at Edventure Nepal, seven years later, she has become a family member of these twelve children.

If she wasn’t “reckless”, she wouldn’t have the chance to roam around South America, Europe, India and Nepal, and she wouldn’t have started her volunteer work; if she didn’t “lawtze” for the second time, the non-profit charity for Nepalese children, “Light On”, wouldn’t exist.

“Even if I got a different job, I would still work selflessly just as I am doing for Light On now. Because when you’ve seen your path, the end destination is always the same.” Pink said.

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[1] A person with multiple jobs, whose job description has multiple slashes, e.g. artist/model/photographer.

A Hong Kong Girl Survived from the Nepal 7.8 Earthquake And Participating In Earthquake Relief Work

(Apply Daily) Pink is from Hong Kong. She has not had a full-time job for ten years, but instead has been travelling to and from a tiny land in the Himalayas – Nepal. After surviving the disastrous 2015 Nepali earthquake (which had a magnitude of 7.8), Pink felt that “It was really good to be alive”. She then established a non-profit organization to support earthquake victims.

Today, she spends more than half of her time travelling in various places in Nepal every year.

The 2015 Nepal earthquake made Pink emotionally attached to the country. “I was in a bookshop and suddenly I felt the earth quivering. I was wondering “Is it an earthquake?” But I continued to read because I didn’t think that was possible. The quivering quickly became much stronger.”

Although after getting out of the jeep, volunteers on the “Light On Your Path Journey” walk for one hour with their luggage to the site of the rebuilding project, many Hong Kong people are still willing to come and experience.

Pink compared the situation with an “extremely strong wave” on a ship. After the earthquake, she slept overnight in an outdoor car park in Kathmandu and reunited with her Nepalese friends the next day. Pink and ten-something Nepalese friends shared a tent for a few days, and experiencing the multiple aftershocks with different magnitudes throughout the month.

Pink did not take a flight back to Hong Kong. “I heard news of increasing casualties, but I was staying in that tent. I had food and shelter, and it was safe. I was so annoyed. Why am I in such a safe place, while others can only sleep on the street, not even having a tent? That’s why I really wanted to contribute something.”

Within only two months, she raised about four hundred thousand HKD on social media, and transported eight tons of supplies to the earthquake epicenter, Gorkha. “Experiencing the earthquake made me realize that being alive means happiness.”

After she returned to Hong Kong, she established the non-profit organization, Light On, to support rebuilding projects in Nepal. “If we build houses, we can only build about two for a few hundred thousand dollars. We think it is better to build public facilities instead, so we decided to rebuild schools.”

The Nepalese people like to introduce their country as “Never End Peace And Love (NEPAL)”.

Recruiting Zhigong (volunteers, 志工, lit. “will-workers”) to participate in school rebuilding, Pink hopes “Hong Kong people can show solidarity to the Nepalese.”

After visiting various sites affected by the earthquakes, she chose the sites for rebuilding schools, and recruited Hong Kong people to participate in the school rebuilding projects. ‘The name of the project “Light On Your Path Journey” implies my hope for the participants getting enlightened.’ Pink said.

Volunteers from Hong Kong have to fly six hours, and drive an entire day to the project site. (The cost is actually higher than using donkeys to transport building materials.) ‘I organized these projects because I hope the volunteers can show solidarity to the Nepalese.’ She hopes that Hong Kong people (who are relatively lucky), do not perceive this trip as “helping others”, but rather cooperating with the local people.

The stem “vol” of the word “volunteer” originates from the Latin word “volition”, meaning “will”. She thinks the term used in mainland China and Taiwan zhigong (志工 “will-worker”) is more appropriate, because it implies that it’s the volunteer’s own will to do this, while the Cantonese term yigong (義工, “responsibility-worker”) implies action out of mercy, which “sanctifies” the action and implies hierarchy.

Apart from participating in rebuilding projects, volunteers also teach and lead activities at the local school.

Woman Who Travels Around As a Full Time Volunteer and Big Sister to 12 Nepalese Kids

(Apple Daily) Being a big sister to 12 Nepalese children, Hong Kong volunteer Pink Lee has travelled to this small Himalayan country for 7 years on the income of various part-time jobs.

Pink survived the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal in 2015.  Happy to be alive, she established an NGO (Editor: Light On Charity) to support earthquake victims.   Nowadays, she spends half the year in Nepal.

Pokhara is the 2^nd largest city in Nepal and is a famous tourist destination.  Its centerpiece is the Phewa Lake: surrounded by Himalayan mountains, in the evening the sun casts its red fire onto the still waters, slowly disappearing behind the green mountains.  This is scenery best viewed at the right time of a year: March to May and October to December. In winter and during monsoon, it is rare to meet foreigners and some shops in the tourist districts are closed. 

7 years ago, Pink, by accident, visited Nepal during monsoon to enjoy rains.

If you close your fists you have just a little, if you open them, you have the whole world

10 years ago, Pink heard this saying in Tibet and decided to quit her job and travel around the world.  In the 3rd year she arrived in Nepal. By this time she had decided that instead of simply sight-seeing, she wanted to do something significant.  The long term bonding between Pink and Nepal began from the moment she saw a torn English advertisement pasted on a lamp post in Pokhara, recruiting volunteers. 

It was an advertisement from a children’s home called “Edventure Nepal”, which was established by a 26-year-old Nepalese called Amrit.  Pink recalled how surprised she was when she met the young man who was willing to put the life of 4 children on his shoulders.  Helping Amrit was a single mum called Tulasi: these two adults were responsible for the care of 4 children’s daily life and tuition fees. 

The Nepalese Government provided no financial support for children’s homes. So Tulasi and Amrit worked to earn all expenses.  “At that time, Edventure Nepal had been set up for only a month and apart from the enclosure walls, there was nothing, not even a bed,” said Pink.

At first the Edventure Nepal children’s home was located in rural area. To get there, Pink would take an hour-long bus journey from the city centre early in the morning and then walk for 45 minutes to arrive at the children’s home just on time to take children to school.

“Big Sister” Pink is a full-time volunteer for Edventure Nepal.  Since 2011, she has visited her sisters and brothers every year.

Call to support the children

To improve the situation at the children’s home, Pink recruited travelers who wanted to serve the local community. Communicating online, she invited people to bring clothes, stationery, furniture, and cooking utensils. The quality of public education was low, with teachers being unreliable, so she began collecting donations for private schooling. 

Since her early three month volunteering period, Pink has returned more and more often to Nepal to visit her “brothers and sisters”. 

She said: “It has been astonishing to see the changes in those children, whose hair had to be shaved because of lice, who didn’t smile, were so small and always scared of the past. They’ve grown up to be clean, always smiling and can now speak English.  It shows the importance of a good education, proper care, sufficient nutrient and love.  The love that Tulasi and Amrit gave them, helped them grow up healthily.”

Pokhara surrounded by snowy mountains.  Nepal’s second city is famous as the starting point for trekking in the Annapurna mountains.

“Uncle” Armit and “Mummy” Tulasi are taking good care of all the children, at the same time they are all positively influenced by their “Big Sister” Pink.  A few months ago, 13-year old Prakash said to Pink that he wanted to be a social worker to help her.  Pink felt so touched that the children wanted to help others and society.  She replied to Prakash, “I will wait for you but you have to finish college first.”

7 years on, Edverture Nepal has moved into the city and now houses 12 children.  With Pink’s help, the organization has developed a self-sustaining operational model, working with an NGO from Hong Kong to host “workcamps” for volunteers who come to the children’s home to carry out cultural exchange.  Part of the program fee is in the form as donations.

Pokhara city is in a valley.  Many years ago, Pink had to take an hour-long bus ride, followed by a 45 minute walk to reach the mountainside Edventure Nepal.

Although children call Amrit “Uncle”, he is actually more like their father.

A year ago, Pink and Amrit rented a building that they now run as a hotel in Lakeside, Pokhara – a social enterprise from which 20% of the revenue is put into Edventure Nepal with the aim to be the financial support in the future.

Everything was going well until the Nepalese Government changed the rules. Now, all children’s homes need to fulfill certain requirements in order to continue operation.  Edventure Nepal had to rent a house (instead of an apartment) and must provide a library, playground, a psychologist and social worker – all this with no funding from the Government. 

Pink and Amrit immediately set about fund-raising.  Luckily (at the time of interview) 70% of the target sum amount HK$350,000 was reached (Editor: and they had reached the target after 6 months of fund-raising).

Pink put her time on rebuilding Nepal and established an NGO called “Light On Charity”.

Internet Free, Volunteers Enjoy Offline Life in Nepalese Mountains

(AM 730) Urbanites are now so used to clinging onto their smartphones.  28 CityU students volunteered in the Nepalese mountains for 8 days.  Some of them stayed in a remote mountain area for 5 days.  Without access to internet, they were cut off from the rest of the world.  The students said that the experience of a life without internet changes how they spend time with family and friends.  They learn to put down their phones, and enjoy the interactions face to face. 

CityU has been running the Servant Leadership Training Program (SLTP) since 2015.  The program encourages students to serve the community, care for others and develop a sense of empathy.  This year, the students were sent to the mountains in Nepal to help in rebuilding the school and in teaching.  In addition to servicing and caring for others, they experienced much more.   Suri Chan, a 2^nd-year Economics and Finance student, said that she could not get used to a life without internet in the beginning.  Very soon, she realized that there is no point complaining.  She found that happiness could easily be found in the beautiful views and wonderful time spent with the locals.   Michelle Kan, a 3^rd-year Marketing student, recalled that because of the lack of internet, everyone could gather on the grass to watch the stars and chit chat.  They even spotted shooting stars!

Dr. Wong Chi-tim, CityU’s Director of Development Services, explained that through the program, students learn that leaders need to set an example by rolling up their sleeves to work and to care for others.  

“Living In the Moment” Through Helping In Nepal Disaster Areas

(Oriental Daily) Living in affluent Hong Kong, our basic needs are always fulfilled.  Indeed, buying the latest phone or travelling to Europe are often seen as part of the basic needs by many youths.  However, having abundance in materialistic terms does not necessarily translate to spiritual fulfillment.  Earlier on, a group of CityU students participated in the Servant Leadership Training Program (SLTP) and went to Nepal.  They volunteered to rebuild the disaster area, teach, farm and fund-raise.  Through these activities, they experienced a life back to basics, and understand the importance of “being in the moment”. 

Demolishing Collapsed Structures

Affected by the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, many buildings near the epicenter were badly damaged.  Rebuilding the school at the disaster area became one of the important tasks for this trip.  The school is located at the Lamjung District, in the south of Manaslu Mountain.  To get there, it is an 8-hour journey from Kathmandu by car, followed by a long walk uphill with luggage.  To these young students, it was certainly a challenge, yet they had no regrets doing the trip.  Frankie, a 4^th-year Policy and Politics student, and Kelvin, a 4^th-year Architecture student, emphasized the importance of helping out in the rebuilding of the disaster area.  “It has been 2 years since the earthquake.  Yet, the disaster area is still in a mess.  The rebuilding work has been slow.  With our help, we hope that the community can be up and running again soon.”  The students were responsible for demolishing the collapsed buildings, from the roof to the walls, to allow for future reconstruction.

A life without smartphones

In addition to rebuilding works, the students were teaching and helping out in the farm.  Through these activities, they had a cultural exchange with the local community there.  They had home stays with the locals.  Supplies are limited uphill.  People live a simple life.  They did not have access to WIFI; they also did not have enough water for showers.  To a young urbanite, this is a real challenge.  Michelle, a 3^rd-year Marketing student, had a different perspective.  “Without WIFI in the mountains, everyone had to put down his phone, and we got to communicate more.  After our work and our meals, we could leisurely sit on the mountains to appreciate the views, watch the stars, and chit chat.  The locals are friendly.  Even though they know very little English, they used their body language to communicate with us, and we had a lot of fun trying to guess what each other means!”

Learning to treasure the moment

From the mountains, the students head to Pokhara, the second largest city in Nepal.  They visited a children’s home among the snow mountains, and held a Fun Fair at Hotel Love and Light (a social-enterprise which supports the same children’s home) to raise funds.  They invited tourists and trekkers to join the Fair and raised HKD5,000 in a day.  The trip ended with this exciting achievement.

In the 8-day journey, the 28 students experienced a simple life without WIFI, without showers, and observed the frugality of the locals.  Natalie, a 4^th-year IT student, and Suri, a 2^nd-year Economics and Finance student, said that “to be contented (with what we have)” is their biggest reward from the trip.  “In Hong Kong, we are advanced in our transportation system, in our medical facilities, etc.  But in such an affluent city, people are not happy.  There is an air of complaints.  Perhaps these complaints stem from our endless desires.  After the trip to Nepal, I learn to live in the moment, and treasure every little thing in my life.  I find life more meaningful.”

Students From City University Experience Authentic Life Volunteering in Nepal

(28 Students from City University of Hong Kong (incl. from left Kelvin Wu, Natalie Chan, Michelle Kan, Suri Chan, Frankie Lee) travelled to Nepal to help in rebuilding the community and experienced life without WiFi and hot water shower for a few days.)

(Sing Tao Daily) Carrying over 10kg of luggage as they climbed uphill, washing their hair outdoor in the coldness with their down jackets on, 28 CityU students joined a volunteer programme in January this year.  They went to Nepal to help in the demolition of buildings collapsed during the earthquake.  Students said that without WIFI coverage, they put down their smartphones, lay down on the grass to watch the stars, and enjoyed the silent moments rarely experienced in Hong Kong. 

　　A troupe of 28 students from CityU participated in the University’s Servant Leadership Training Program (SLTP).  They went to Lamjung District of Nepal in January to help the locals to demolish the secondary school building that collapsed during the earthquake, including taking off the tin sheets on the roof, removing nails on the wooden beams and clearing away stone pieces. 

　　Water runs in scarcity on site.  Students were often covered with dust head to toes.  Despite the coldness, Natalie Chan, an Information Technology student, washed her long hair out in the open air at the playground.  She said, “It was only two degrees Celcius.  I still cannot believe that I had that determination to wash my hair!”   At last, they had a chance to take a shower after the left the mountain and came down to the big city Pokhara.  They waited outside the bathroom for half an hour for hot water, but when their turns came, the hot water had all been used up by the students before them.  Natalie said that she was dumbfounded with disappointment.

　　Rebuilding the school was not the only physical challenge that the students experienced.  Because here was no transportation, they had to carry their over 10kg of luggage uphill. As some of them were worried that they would not be acclimatized to the water there, so they even brought kilos of drinking water from Hong Kong and were carrying them uphill with their luggage as well.   However, the serene nights in the mountains bring back fond memories.  Without WIFI coverage, Michelle Kan, a third-year Marketing student, put down her smartphone, lay on the grass to watch the stars, and enjoyed a moment of silence.  She even caught a shooting star! 

　　A life without WIFI and without showers allows these students to reflect on their own lives.  Suri Chan, an Economics and Finance student, said that she quit looking at her smartphone the whole time and letting her phone takes the “first bite” of each dish that is served. She now values her time with family and friends more.